Russia: The chilling four-word command that led to horror Azerbaijan plane crash | World | News
A chilling recording of radio communications between a Russian commander and his air defence unit has been released by Azerbaijan. The conversation is said to have happened moments before Russian Pantsir-S1 missiles were fired at an Azeri passenger plane en route to Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, from Baku.
The recording would appear to confirm the plane was shot down by Russian forces during a Ukrainian drone strike in the area. Although Vladimir Putin apologised to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev days after the crash – calling it “a tragic incident” – he stopped short of admitting Russia‘s responsibility. Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 was travelling to Grozny on December 26 last year with 67 people on board.
The Embraer 190 was damaged when shrapnel fragments from an exploding Russian surface-to-air missile pierced its fuselage.
The plane was refused permission to land at any Russian airports despite repeated requests from the stricken aircraft’s pilots for an emergency landing.
The pilots were ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan, where the plane crashed during landing, exploding into flames and killing 28 people, as well as injuring 29.
The new recording purporting to capture the moment orders were given to the Russian air defence unit to fire at the plane was published by the Azerbaijan news outlet Minval.
The Russian commander can be heard saying: “Hello. Azimuth 338. Range 7000. Altitude 490. Speed 118. Course at 230. Yes, already range 7.”
Then the officer issues the fateful 4-word command: “Fire! Fire, I say!”
The sound of an explosion can be heard, followed by more words from the officer: “Missed. Repeat. Fire again.”
A Chechen rebel leader told the Daily Express at the time that the plane was shot down by missiles fired from a Pantsir-S1 located at a Russian military base in Khankala, some 7 kilometres from Grozny.
Ruslan Kataev said: “We are convinced that the blow was struck from the Khankala Russian army base based on both the nature of the damage to the aircraft and presence of air defence systems there.”
He noted there was another Russian military base located in the Novrusky district, but said it was too far away to have been within striking range of the Azeri passenger plane.
The veteran resistnce fighter dismissed out of hand that Ramzan Kadyrov’s forces (Chechnya’s president) could have been involved, pointing out they did not possess any air defence systems.
